Inaugural event at SMC draws large turnout

Students, staff applaud as Obama sworn in.

Students, staff applaud as Obama sworn in.

DOWAGIAC Â? As with many college students, money is hard to come by for Jenny Behnke. So, when she parts with it, she gives it careful thought.

She did just that last year before scraping up $10 and sending it to Barack Obama's campaign.

On Tuesday, she was rewarded for her investment as she watched her favored candidate receive his oath of office as the nation's 44th president.

"I feel a real sense of pride and hope for the first time in the direction this country can go," the 35-year-old Dowagiac woman said.

Behnke was among those who applauded after watching Obama's inauguration unfold on a large-screen television at the Mathews Library at Dowagiac's Southwestern Michigan College. There were chuckles, too, when Chief Justice John Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully" while administering the oath of office.

Echoing the comments of some of the nearly 200 others who turned out to witness history in the making, Behnke was particularly impressed by Obama's acceptance speech.

Also like others in the audience, she said she's hopeful Obama's administration is accompanied by an unprecedented level of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.

"I think there's a willingness to get some of our problems corrected," she said.

The turnout for the SMC event was unexpected. SMC President David Mathews said it was by far the largest of the three inauguration gatherings the community college has hosted.

The size of the crowd was a surprise also to Asali Kelly, SMC's activities coordinator.

"We were expecting maybe 50 here," she said.

In the end, she seemed as excited as the students.

"To be in a place like SMC, with a lot of people from all walks of life, it's important for us to come together," she said.

A nursing student from Nigeria, Tolu Falaiye, 22, said she's not a citizen of the United States so she was ineligible to vote in the November election. But if she had voted, she would have supported Obama, she said.